How to Run D&D VILLAINS | Prepare your Villains to NOT Die

[@TheDungeonCoach]

How do YOU save YOUR Villains?! 💜 Become a Patron: www.patreon.com/thedungeoncoach 🔴 Become a KZbin Member: kzbin.info/door/z8xkTADYdRQR7GP-f2PjOAjoin ▶️ Dungeon Coach Homebrew Playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLMzshUEANAtOovJb_pr27pwLOTR3nn19g

[@8ozz220]

Literally needed to write a BBEG this week, I swear you're a psychic

[@TheDungeonCoach]

8ozz IM IN YOUR HEAD!!!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

I foresee more amazing D&D videos in your future!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Lunch Break Heroes OMG see! He’s psychic too... I knew it (another psychic pun)

[@reznet2]

Why are your videos always so useful & relevant? lol I was actually just thinking about this

[@TheDungeonCoach]

reznet2 thanks man! That’s my goal! And it was great to team up on this one!

[@SkylarKeystone]

"Your players they got alot of inginuity" then there's my players who cant take 3 wolves in a fight.

[@DDHomebrew]

Lots of great stuff here. For me the key to "cleaning up" after unexpected outcomes is to remember that your characters are helping to create the story, not just taking part in one I've thought up. Part of the GM's job is to adjust that story to each sessions outcomes when needed. NPC's are going to react to these events as well; sometimes an unexpected victory can bring more trouble to PC's by these reactions.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

D&D Homebrew I love the last part you said about an unexpected victory causing more trouble for the PCs than before!

[@Domanese]

@@TheDungeonCoach Yep because now the PCs have created a huge power vacuum. Somebody is going to rise and its going to be someone smarter. A good number of PCs won't even note this fact and the world state can get worse as a result. Example; This mob boss you described could have been the only check against a powerful "mastermind" mage and as a result of the PCs actions, he now gains dominance over the surrounding kingdoms. Furthermore because the PCs have done the dubious favor of offing his rival, thy now have a huge target on their backs from various bounty hunters.

[@nickolasmorin5600]

Perfect timing for this video. My players in my homebrew game are about to be introduced to the BBEG for the first time. Great advice once again!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Nickolas Morin Whew! Glad I snuck in there with the last minute tips! Hope it helps, let me know if he survives lol

[@joesgotmore]

Another thing you can do is if your big bad gets killed or near death either have an exit strat for them. They didn't get to their position without some forethought. If they fail to get away and get killed. Much like your followers made a task force other members could be working to resurrect the villain. After all how often to players work to make sure they can't be rezzed, huh? Or undead shredder like you mentioned. :)

[@GunnarWahl]

as for this idea of a villian brought back. I had a war of 2 villians, a beholder and a vampire, both ran the underbelly crime of 2 neighboring cities, and the players were being chased by the beholder. The beholder's main assistant, "the oracle." found them and fought them. He was a warlock of the beholder (a homebrew warlock subclass) that had a special polymorph that turned him into a Gauth when he got bloodied, he had legendary actions and the full nine and the players killed him. Well when they found the layer of the vampires, they found that they reanimated the Oracle but his connection to the beholder was too strong and he broke free of their mind control. and so it became a 3 way fight of vampire spawn, a now half vampire boss and the players, the boss when reaching half hp now became a death's kiss instead of a Gauth like before, now that he was effectively a vampire beholder. It's still talked about by my players as an epic fight.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

GunnarWahl WOW!! You have epic PCs AND epic villains! Freakin awesome dude!

[@ryanrodgers3099]

Divine intervention can be a really cool way to resurrect or "save" a villain, but it depends a lot on the campaign. Is this battle between good and evil one that reaches the very gods themselves? Has the villain been shown to be favored by the God of Pain, including extra powers and abilities? Why wouldn't this God revive their most loyal servant into some new twisted form? It's epic to see someone twisted into a monstrous version of their former selves in exchange for their life. You can't use this if gods aren't involved in your universe and bringing someone back to life without any kind of drawbacks or changes falls flat. It's absolutely awesome when it works and is seeded right though.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Ryan Rodgers DI for the villain! Nice! Love it, and love that you clarified it with the gods needing to be prevalent, totally agree!

[@kingrune111]

Fantastic video collaboration! I'm actually already a follower of his, I hope we get a lot of double followers out of it! That idea of kicking the can down the street is actually something I've been holding onto for my players. Some things they'll miss, but some will be found by other means of they skip that initial reveal! Also great of y'all to point out how important foreshadowing is in a campaign. It really helps with worldbuilding and like he said, legitimizes things happening based on the structure of ones world!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Stephen A YES! We’re all three synced up then!! Those are HUGE and I agree, love to hear it hit home for you!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Foreshadowing is something that I think is left out of a lot of RPG discussions. Or at least the ones I've been privy to. Which is sad, because it's a huge component of the best stories!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Lunch Break Heroes YUP! I have entire index cards behind my screen dedicated to exactly that! Little foreshadow nuggets Incan throw in there!

[@kingrune111]

@@LunchBreakHeroes Agreed! You really hot the mail on the head in that part of the video. I've read hundreds of books and foreshadowing is incredibly important

[@kingrune111]

@@TheDungeonCoach that's a great idea!! All my cue cards are currently magic items to give to players

[@Celestialzzz]

finally found out what BBEG is an acronym for. I've learned a lot from this channel, but this is a true gem lol.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Zack Wheeler then there’s the GGGG... Giant great good guy... (Kissing lol) Glad I could clear this up for ya lol!

[@RulesandRulings]

I feel like any really good villain needs more than a combat stat block. They need a stat block of sorts for their political, social, economic power. You need to know whether they have connections to government, a hoard of followers or access to plentiful resources.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Stephen Harris o for SURE! I have one of those large index cards or even a full page usually with all the “strings” they have to pull/ resources/ hooks/ foreshadowing/ etc! Agreed!

[@Nystagmium]

Potion of teleportation, baby. Your villains should never leave home without it!

[@taeurus]

Coach this is now my 3rd favorite video (I'll continue my challenge from the Discord even if no one else does)! One newer trope to throw into the mix is thus: the players have heard the reputation of the villain since way early game but only recently started having brushes with them. However things in the villain's demeanor and actions is contradicting at times to the consistent rumors and tales. They have a full confrontation with the villain in the mid tiers with the villain having a strong upper hand. Before the final blow can be dealt (either by the villain to the players or players to the villain) the REAL villain shows up and slays its imposter in front of the party in an unhonorable way before exiting in a dismissing fashion from the party since they are beneath the true villain as the party were not able to deal a pale copy of the real threat. This has to be done carefully but when done right, it can instill a vigor in a party to take down the true BBEG. Especially with a little dramatic last breathe dialogue from the dying false villain on why they imitated. Mayhaps they wanted to prepare the party for the real threat, mayhaps they were an NPC who had been dismissed by the party and they wanted to prove their worth, or mayhaps they hero worshipped the BBEG and couldn't prove themself worthy of its ranks through any other means than imitation. Any way you play it up, the party was invested and their victory was given and taken away from them in the same breathe. Someone...has...got...to...pay! Now all the early rumors and tales make more sense and the party fully knows the power and brutality of their foe better than if it went off just slaughtering waves of innocent people. Like a praying mantis devouring its own kind, they know nothing will stop this foe from its goals...unless they put everything into it! Well I babbled on long enough so I will leave that there. As I said, this approach has to be carefully as to not just rob the players (not characters) of their steam and enthusiasm, but every time I have used this I get a supercharged party for the rest of the campaign!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

taeurus YOU SIR... are a damn good story teller! That is SUCH an epic villain story you just told! Love it, as usual! Thanks for the continued efforts of engagement! You rock bro

[@taeurus]

@@TheDungeonCoach I appreciate the compliment but I am just good at transposing stories from other outlets to situations haha. I literally stole this from an episode of Criminal Minds where the actual Unsub got pulled over for like a broken tail light at the very beginning of the episode so he blew himself up with a grenade; the story keeps evolving as his submissive assistant as a total mental breakdown and tries to transform himself into the Unsub. All I did in the 3 games I have implemented this was take the BBEG's death out of the equation and make a fanboy/girl that wants the BBEG's attention but does not have the confidence to do that as themself. So if you can't be yourself, be what you believe can take on the world ie the BBEG. Thorough players might map out the inconsistencies and theorize there is an impostor or that maybe the BBEG has had something happen to cause the changes. In one of the games, I had them discover the secret journal of the impostor after its death which held secret clues to possible weaknesses of the BBEG the impostor was trying to get to better protect their idol. I have rarely seen a party pack up bags so quick around level 8-9 as quickly as this one did when they realized the treasure map they held so they were off halfway across the world to an area they truly knew nothing about or had ever even tried to ask about for me to put them through the story-ringer! If my story telling is half as good as you keep making feel it is, I cannot wait to get these modules done and published so others can enjoy this game as much as my mind loves weaving each thread of tales into it ^^!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

taeurus heck yea man! Don’t stress yourself out with the creation process too much, you don’t want it to become a “job” Because you are so good at this and I just want you to relax and do your thing!

[@joshuatellier5803]

How am I just hearing of this channel now? Awesome stuff

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Joshua Tellier hahah thanks man! It was a fun Collab

[@Tysto]

Low-level villains can have an escape tunnel behind a curtain (with a door to bar), and a stream of lackeys to cover the escape. Mid-level villains can have a flying ability. Higher-level villains can have teleportation. High-level villains can planeshift. The villain can have a trap prepared that captures the heroes, perhaps negating their magic, or can live in an anti-magic or wild magic zone.

[@jhuffman1138]

Okay, so I've been watch your videos for the past two or so days, and I honestly didn't know what you could bring that I didn't already have from watching bigger channels like Nerdarchy or the Dungeon Dudes or How To Be A Great GM and many others. I found you through the second colab you did with Luke on the DM Lair and it couldn't have been better! I absolutely love your content! I find a lot of it to be interesting and different than what others have already said. I've thought about trying my hand at content creation and this makes me think about doing it more! Sorry that this has been long and not exactly well structured, but just wanted to say I love this channel! (P.S. when I learned you were a teacher I got jealous of all of your students because this energy in a classroom has to be contagious! Also, the time out thing is really cool)

[@jasonp9508]

Best way to keep recurring villains recurring: teleport, dimension door, or similar. From spell or item. The only thing in 30 years of DM-ing that my players have ever feared and respected? An artifact. And it was one meant to help them, but they were so scared of losing their free will to this thing that they KNOW doesn’t follow game rules... Yeah, everything else, they will try to kill it even if they’re outmatched. And then they’ll chase it when it runs away. Until they kill it.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

I love the experience you bring! Wow! I love it!

[@MrDavidKord]

A tip that always ups the ante: Your players WANT to be dealt damage. If you feel like your BBEG is going down quickly, have a trump card available to do some big area damage when it's NOT the BBEG's turn. Give it options for when it can be triggered based on when you need it - the top of the round, or triggered at 1/4 health, or at initiative 10. This will change the paradigm right when you need it and give the players that "uh oh" moment they were looking for.

[@kylerasmussen3170]

Found your channel watching his Strahd videos. And now I’m hooked. Both are awesome D&D channels!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Dang thanks dude! He’s a great guy and is the best there is at module adjusting!!

[@sharpie3247]

Great video! I hope you do more collabs in the future (in addition to the usual content we all love)

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Vargj I have another Collab coming out in a few weeks! So I got you covered! And the same Saturday videos too!

[@OneWingedAngelsBand]

If your BBEG is a smart spellcaster, you can do the princess in another tower trope but with the actual villain. However the villain is counting on the party defeating him, so he used the Clone spell in advance. As soon as he dies, his soul transfers to his clone's location... which conveniently is where the princess is actually being held prisoner. To avoid deus ex machina, you can foreshadow it by letting your players know that this villain mage is intelligent and always plans ahead.

[@tristencovarrubias4950]

Love Matt’s Boss Action System video. It’s true that you can’t control the outcome of player actions, but I feel that in the example of your NPC with ties to your PC’s backstory a little on the fly tweaking to stats or maybe a spur-of-the-moment revelation of the NPC’s possession of a legendary magic item that prevents death a limited number of charges...? It’s the per-view of the DM to maintain essential story-arc components and I wouldn’t consider it railroading if it is in service of a more impactful experience for the table in the process, then... just my takeaway on it. (Also, not an unforgivable move on the part of a new DM to compensate for under-preparation... food for thought.)

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Tristen Covarrubias o I totally see that! I have done it before multiple times, it’s all about the story and what would tell the best story without robbing them from agency. And totally agree about the new DM thing too!

[@phillipbush9603]

Another awesome addition to the videos you have already made. Keep up the great work ….

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Phillip Bush definitely a different style video with a fun interview style vibe, was fun to film and challenging to edit haha

[@TheWillCarter]

Great video, thanks for the intro to lunchtime heroes.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Will Carter best Module resource around! No problem!

[@cariocaemfuria3946]

Also, if they DO defeat the bad guy, I think the "oh, it was the liteunant" can be cheap if you have been building this guy for a while. I like the "ramifications" approach much better. What you might also want to do is to go with a legacy villain. Maybe the shapeshifting dragon had a lieutenant who is now running the show? Maybe he had a sister, another dragon, who would never have been concearned with the PCs before, but now, she is OUTRAGED about lowly humans killing her brother.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Pedro Fernandez ooooo legacy villain!! That’s epic!!! Writing that one down for sure! You got some great ideas man!

[@cariocaemfuria3946]

@@TheDungeonCoach Thanks!

[@cariocaemfuria3946]

@@TheDungeonCoach Here's a story for you. Not sure it's useful DM advice, because it's HELL specific, but at least is a cool story. I wouldn't also do it on a more low fantasy gritty, Conan/Game of Thronesesque style I usually go for. But here it goes: Once upon a time, I DMed a Forgotten Realms campaign. In that campaign, that ended up taking about 3-4 real life years, there was Tander, the Wizard, and a big bad they killed (at the time I had planned anyway, he run it's course) called Divanesh, who wanted to open a portal to hell, since he was a hardcore social darwinist and thought that, this way, only the stronger humans would live on). Well, you see, Divanesh had once been an apprentice to the same Archwizard that instructed Tander. Many sessions after Divanesh had been defeated, an ice demon took Tander's master's tower (because it's always a tower!). Tander, and his party fought throw the tower and eventually banished the Demon, but this basically destroyed the tower. This was just around the time Tander finally got the wish spell. And what did he wish for? That the tower would become exactly as it once was, except for anything related to the demon (he meant to take it as a base). Well, what happened is that he accidentally created a tower complete with many arcane secrets, the young 4th level Divanesh and the three nymph lovers of Tander's master, who would care and protect Divanesh. The group had a heated discussion about "what to do", with some wanting to kill the basically innocent (so far) wizard and others trying to prevent his descent to evil. Well, eventually, Divanesh became the big bad again, now a lieutenant to the new big bad... LoL

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Pedro Fernandez oooooo I LOVE the moral dilemma of him not doing anything bad... YET great story!

[@khayyin359]

Would love to see you do a collaboration with Bob World Builder! He's got a whole series of DM Guides to each quest in DoIP & the following adventures, and I like the way he thinks about adjusting things to make sense & fit your players. Plus he's just a chill guy. Another good one would be Role Initiative. They've done great videos on roleplaying/voicing different monsters, and interpreting class archetypes differently for more unique characters.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Zach Hunt in friends with bob! So that would be an awesome Collab! I have not heard of Role Initiative! I’ll have to go check em out! Thanks for the tip!

[@darthveritos7323]

In my campaign I'm running I have it set in Kara Tur, Faeruns eastern neighbor, and to make it interesting I set it up where the deities can help anyone who is aligned with their faith such as clerics and paladins in any domain on the world. However, the celestial planes and hells all have different domains, so the devils and demons can only reach the material plane in their domain and the deities only have power over their followers outside their domain otherwise can only effect their domain of the world. In doing this I have multiple kings or rulers of the hells and I have Wong Mo, the king of the Eastern hells of Kara Tur is trying to team up with Asmodeus in order to conquer both domains of the material plane together. Not only does this give me a contingency in case they find a way to kill him but I also have it already built into the lore that Wong Mo can only be destroyed by the black blade of legend, Muramasa. Im actually introducing him to the party here soon and I can safely say they can't kill my recurring BBEG until they find Muramasa. I know it's a little cliche and some would say I did it so they couldn't kill my bbeg but honestly I designed that off taoist lore that I'm using as base to modify for my eastern setting. I designed that before I wrote anything about the campaign for story, not so they cant kill my BBEG, though it does work in my favor.

[@wisemysticaltree1792]

My recurring villain is a revenant so even if my PC's kill him it usually doesnt last

[@kathyevans3251]

Fantastic tips.I am working on a few Villans. This has given me some ideas

[@edwardchavers6229]

Fallen really is a great movie, inspirational in lots of ways. Great video by the way, gets the little grey cells moving.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Edward Chavers haha I appreciate the clever brain joke! 🧠

[@snobgoblinDK]

Another great video! I decided to support you on Patreon :) Keep up the good work!

[@cariocaemfuria3946]

Ok, now let me tell you about that time my PCs tried to attack my Big Evil Guy Priest of the God of Darkness (not really yet the main BBEG) before the "proper" time: the Human Rogue ended up blind (later a Dwarven High Priest healed him, but it lasted a long time!). The barbarian died (thrown from a tower AFTER his arm was cut off). The Human Bard was cursed with a dease (but 1 week later overcame it). And the Gnome Cleric lived, because he was really good at hiding. In fact, he just didn't killed him because he turned into a giant bat and flew away. He had a very urgent human sacrifice to make.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Pedro Fernandez YES!! You killed it! Literally! Well done sir!!

[@bakured]

I actually don't have this issue because of one reason: my players know I LOVE killing PC's. Comes with the territory of being a terrible person. In my games, living in fear isn't necessarily a bad thing if you like keeping your character alive :)

[@Ramperdos]

Really interesting conversation, I'd gladly hear you two talk again at some point!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Rampe we’ve talked about it again recently and might just do that! I also have a Collab coming out soon with Treantmonk too!

[@hawkname1234]

Great video guys!

[@devildog2023]

Love it as always, thanks DC

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Devil Dog np dude! He’s the best for modules!!

[@nickolasbarnes4430]

What I did was like a beowulf situation. My players killed the bbeg but then the bigger badder mom of bbeg came after them.

[@sillymonger]

Needed this video, thanks mate

[@TheDungeonCoach]

sillymonger it’s crazy how many people I’ve talked to about this exact topic within the last Week! It’s an issue!! Glad to help

[@Gerwulf569]

Azazel from Fallen. Love it!

[@hewettlo]

I think we're missing out on useful tool that video games have used for a while. A cut scene lets you do whatever you want with the villain do horrible things and the PC's can't stop them. I usually have one off screen cut scene that let's the BBEG do some mustache twirling. Instead of letting them find out what the BBEG did, show them it and make them helpless viewers.

[@stephenodom3431]

One word. Simalcrum.

[@john-allanbacking4467]

What do you guys think about having a cast of NPCs that is both good and bad in different ways? everyone has their own agenda and when it conflicts with an NPC they can become either opposition or an outright villain. simply out of their difference of opinion or agenda.

[@TheDungeonTomb]

what do BBEG stands for ?

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Torben Bk “Big Bad Evil Guy” it’s a term for the MAIN villain of your entire campaign 👍🏼

[@ixelhaine]

How did the Druid turn into an Ancient Dragon? Dragons aren't beasts, a Druid can't Wildshape into one.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

It is a Villain :) They dont follow the same rules as a player. Druid rules are for druid players in the PHB, when I homebrew villains, thats the BEST part, you can do whatever you want. BUT its on the DM to keep it balanced/ fair. I run a very homebrew wold and create most monsters I throw at my players from scratch (with inspiration from the originals) So what cooler thing than to have the High Chieftan of a Circle of the Moon Druid shift into an Ancient Dragon? It also made thematic sense because there was a "dragon cult" type situation that the circle of the moon tribe was corrupted by

[@akisapostoliotis4914]

Good video though the remark about the deux ex machina wasn't so right... There is more to it than bad story telling... Even though i am not the best instructor about ancient greek plays it played a critical role in the catharsis part that every play had to include in the end. As being a major form of entertainment plays ought to leave the audition with no intense feelings at the end of the act (catharsis= clean of passion soul)... Some plays were banned(even great ones) for not doing that. Deus ex machina was one of the ways of achieving that, also ancients greek plays were full of foreshadowing it was one of their characteristics actually....

[@GunnarWahl]

have a group of bad ass hero's? High AC, High HP, Multiple actions per turn? Here's a tip, use Goblin Magic Missler's! these are basic goblins with 1 level in sorcerer that know 1 spell. Magic missile, they each can use it twice and you put in combat 1 per player. These guys fall like a bag of bricks but they are annoying to reach. wither on the other side of a wall with an arrow slit or inside a prison cell shooting out of the food tray, they are not easy to reach. But i Promise you, that Key NPC villain will be ignored when the party sees these annoying little bastards shooting from cover and will try everything they can to kill them. I did this with an ogre camp, an ogre got a head band of intellect and realized he could teach his goblins magic missiles to replace their aweful aim bow shots. the party had to take down this ogre magi and his stupid goblins and in doing so, not only got the xp, but also the headband, the arcane ticker liked that very much

[@TheDungeonCoach]

GunnarWahl what a cool version of little mobs to throw at your party to challenge them, they are super weak BUT unique mechanic to have to adjust to, great!!

[@Keldren.]

honestly...i really wish my players could do this... so far things are pretty dang boring and i'm outsmarting them with enemies that are supposed to be a walk in the park but i read the abilities and try to play honestly...but have to dumb things down cuz my players are just.... kind of meh... but they constantly trash talk and abuse evvvvvvverybody who can't fight back and say they're gonna slay gods and murder everyone who doesn't "bend the knee" to them... then they lose to anything with the slightest amount of capability... i don't know what to do but cater to their ego and play dumb and lose for no logical reason even tho it's rewarding them basically being the bad guys... am i just supposed to let them slaughter innocent people just because they feel like it even though it'll full stop the campaign and i don't wanna DM anymore for this nonsense.. or just kill them even tho they promised their next characters will be 100% evil *stupid* if they die....

[@kingrune111]

Video SNIPE!

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Stephen A how do you do it!??!! So fast

[@kingrune111]

@@TheDungeonCoach Commitment lmao

[@Keldren.]

my players basically desperately want to be the bbeg but in the stupidest ways possible.. their plans make no sense, they just bully anyone who can't fight back and are so full of themselves they'd both be dead 10x's over already if i wasn't secretly helping them for the sake of the learning experience... but still... they're playing stupid.. evil characters would want them dead for their chaotic stupidity and good characters would want them dead for their evil in general... how do i get it through to them to stop being idiots without killing them because they say they're the victims and if they're killed it's only because they weren't evil enough...

[@DrAndrewJBlack]

😅

[@LordOz3]

The only thing I didn't like was it took longer than usual.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Jon Osborne O for sure! We both had over 60 min conversations that had to be edited down into this, so definitely things to learn on my end about how many things to talk about. The conversational nature really made things take longer. Was hard to chop out extra... since it all ties together 😆 But yes I agree!

[@bharl7226]

@@TheDungeonCoach I thought it was a good length. Conversation videos should be longer, otherwise what's the point?

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Benjamin Harl yea with a back and forth I feel like it truly doubles the length, both giving their opinions and what not. Thanks for the feedback!